A bison burger soaked with Coors, a steak dusted with Sweet’N Low and an Oregon sandwich built around pear-and-blue-cheese ice cream establish the particular kind of chaos at work here. Rhett and Link are not simply identifying regional foods; they have to reverse-engineer entire states from deliberately awkward combinations of staples, crops, restaurant chains, brands and locally created products. That gives a familiar food-guessing format enough complication to sustain the game, while the baseball scoring system turns geographical proximity into something more consequential than a basic right-or-wrong answer.
The best rounds provide clues that seem obvious only after the reveal. Colorado combines bison, a chile and Coors, while Massachusetts becomes identifiable through Boston Market macaroni and cheese, Boston baked beans and Fig Newtons. Rhett’s successful Massachusetts deduction is particularly satisfying because he connects multiple clues rather than landing on the state through blind guessing. Conversely, the New York strip steak sitting directly in front of both hosts while they debate Missouri and Illinois becomes a nicely constructed miss, with the obvious answer concealed by their fixation on Sweet’N Low and the cocktail.
The less straightforward sandwiches produce some of the funniest reactions. Link’s disgust at the pear-and-blue-cheese ice cream dominates the Oregon round, and Scrapple sends both hosts searching for a Southern explanation before Delaware is revealed. The physical absurdity of putting ice cream, barbecue sauce, candy or artificial sweetener into sandwiches gives the tasting genuine comic value instead of making the food merely a delivery mechanism for trivia. Rhett and Link are also willing to linger on flavors they dislike, so even incorrect guesses generate entertaining material.
Some of the clue descriptions, however, become confusing once the answers are explained. The Oregon sandwich is introduced as containing three foods “created in” the state, but the subsequent explanation appears to refer to products associated with Salt & Straw, Tillamook and Voodoo Doughnut rather than clearly establishing that pear-and-blue-cheese ice cream, cheddar cheese and the relevant doughnut themselves originated there. Rhett and Link even stop to clarify that Voodoo was created in Oregon rather than doughnuts generally. Similar uncertainty surrounds Missouri’s “state dessert,” which prompts the hosts themselves to question what exactly the cone represents. Because the game depends on factual associations, more precise wording would make the trivia feel sturdier.
The baseball mechanic works better in practice than its initially complicated explanation suggests. Wrong guesses can still earn singles or triples based on geographical closeness, allowing Link’s Kansas guess to score well when Missouri is correct and giving each state selection a strategic dimension. The map also encourages deliberate hedging, as when Rhett considers where neighboring states might leave him safest. Yet consecutive strikeouts during the Oregon and New York rounds briefly stall that momentum, and the distinction between runners, runs and points becomes muddled enough in the hosts’ own discussion that the scoring is not always immediately intuitive.
The charity competition supplies an unusually worthwhile payoff to an otherwise frivolous game. Rhett plays for Reading Is Fundamental, Link for the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, and the winner adds another $6,000 to his charity before the broader Good Mythical Summer totals are revealed. Promotional material for Mythical Society and the closing season announcements interrupt the game somewhat, but the hosts’ rapid banter, confidently wrong reasoning and genuine enjoyment keep the main segment moving. By the end, the geographical knowledge is almost secondary to watching plausible deductions collide with bizarre sandwich construction.
Pros
- Cleverly combines regional food trivia with geographical proximity and baseball-style scoring.
- Several reveals reward genuine clue-solving, particularly the Massachusetts and Missouri rounds.
- Bizarre sandwich combinations create strong spontaneous reactions rather than functioning as trivia props alone.
- Rhett and Link’s incorrect deductions are often as entertaining as their successful ones.
- The charity competition gives the game a meaningful payoff beyond simply declaring a winner.
Cons
- Some clue wording is imprecise about whether a food, brand, restaurant or specific product was actually created in the state.
- The Missouri dessert explanation remains confusing even to the hosts.
- Baseball scoring takes time to understand and occasionally becomes muddled in the discussion.
- Promotional interruptions and end-of-season announcements slightly disrupt the otherwise brisk game.
Inventive food combinations, regional trivia and competitive geography make for an energetic game whose funniest moments often come from deductions that collapse spectacularly. Some of the factual clue construction could be more precise and the scoring is busier than necessary, but the chemistry, reveals and charity stakes make the format consistently enjoyable.
